Pfleger takes plea for tougher gun laws to Gold Coast

October 03, 2010

The Rev. Michael Pfleger today again railed against gun violence stealing the lives of Chicago's youth. But he wasn't behind the pulpit of his South Side church, St. Sabina, or on the streets of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods.

Pfleger was in the wealthy Gold Coast neighborhood at Fourth Presbyterian Church, encouraging about 100 people to rally lawmakers in Springfield for tougher gun laws.

"They may not be listening to ... me and some of the folks on the South Side and the West Side. But when Michigan Avenue stands up, it's a different story," Pfleger said.

Dozens of children and their parents clung to posters that read "Pray for Peace" and "Be the Change." People clenched hands as they sang, "We Shall Overcome."

"Now that I have a child, I can't imagine what it would be like to lose one," said Anna Vest, of Hyde Park, holding her 21-month-old son, Noah.

Among the speakers was Joseph Walker, whose grandson, 16-year-old Derrion Albert, was beaten to death on Sept. 24, 2009, as he walked home from school. After Albert's death, Walker started Pain to Power, a foundation dedicated to the safe passage of children to and from school.

"That's a tragedy, when a sixth- or seventh-grader is looking out the window (at school) to see if someone's on that corner, or that corner or that corner, trying to find a safe route home," Walker said.

Marcenia Richards, a pastor at Life Center Church on the West Side, said she was spurred to action after a teenager was fatally shot two months ago in front of her home in Englewood. She said she was silent for too long, but her 7-year-old niece, Viqtoria, encouraged her to help stop the violence.

"I said to her, 'How am I going to do that?'" Richards recalled. Her niece said, "You can pray for peace."

Richards helped organize an Oct. 23 event in which people will pray for peace on 52 of the city's most dangerous blocks, then march to the Daley Center.